At this point, I can’t even pretend to be surprised by Taylor Sheridan’s obsession with putting his female characters through the wringer. 1923 might be his latest playground, but that pattern started way back with Yellowstone, and Beth Dutton was the original test subject. Don’t get me wrong though, I love a complex, messy woman on screen.
But you see, when every single arc starts feeling like a trauma Olympics, it stops being bold and starts being exhausting. I get that TS thrives on grit, but why does that always mean women have to suffer the most? It’s not edgy anymore.
Taylor Sheridan’s women: Broken, bruised, and barely written
Let’s not pretend what I said in the subhead came out of nowhere. 1923 handed us a finale that felt more like a punishment than a payoff, and I did see that coming. Taylor Sheridan had already set the tone with Beth in Yellowstone, whose trauma was treated like a narrative playground. Alexandra in 1923? Same story, new script. Frostbite, miscarriage, heartbreak, and a literal deathbed — all to fuel Spencer’s brooding cowboy arc.
Elsa, in 1883, narrated her own death. Monica lost a child and kept spinning in a loop of grief. It’s like Sheridan doesn’t build female characters; he breaks them. And when he isn’t breaking them, he’s ogling them.
Billy Bob Thornton crushed his role, but it was hard to ignore how Michelle Randolph’s 17-year-old character was leered at like a bar special. Grown men eyeing her like it was normal? Disgusting. And it didn’t stop there. Every woman in the show was either selfish, sexualized, or just plain soulless. Widow, lawyer, daughter — pick your stereotype.
And that strip poker scene in 1923 was literal bad p*rno energy. Fans were furious. One Redditor said: “if they added it in more of the show I’d have to stop watching it.”
So yeah, Taylor Sheridan’s got a pattern, and it does not have character depth. It’s humiliating. His women aren’t written to live. They’re written to suffer. And while he calls it drama, it feels more like degradation dressed up in cowboy boots.
Fans react to Taylor Sheridan’s female characters’ suffering
Taylor Sheridan’s shows really leaned into making women suffer for no good reason. Fans saw the pattern and called it out hard. Back in 1923, all that brutal trauma with the nuns felt more like shock value than storytelling. Then Yellowstone dropped strip poker scenes and random power-tripping moments like dressing down the shop owner — again, women getting dragged for the drama.
But Landman? That’s where things hit a new low. Viewers were floored by how much it felt like Sheridan’s personal fantasy: older guys scoring with women way outta their league, teen girls dressed like adult eye candy, and every woman somehow wrapped around a dude’s ego.
Fans weren’t buying the “artistic discomfort” excuse. It felt gross, on purpose and people finally started saying it out loud.